The Stylish and the Viewtiful
by Cinnamin-chan
Summary: Alastor has the life he always wanted: he's free and he can do whatever he wants, when he wants to. But after a while, Movie Land becomes a bore the glory of being a solo demon warrior begins to wear off... and the glory isn't the only thing fading away.


A/N: It's been a while since I actually started this, so please forgive me if there are any factual errors or spelling mistakes (even though I checked over it a number of times). Also, I don't know when I'll continue, but if there are enough readers, I may go a bit faster. ;) Please R&R if you like it!

* * *

All was still in Movie Land; evil had not shown its face in a long time, nor had a need to. On one side of the land, a once-glorious temple that now lay in ruins housed a pair of dark eyes tinted light purple. They belonged to Blade Master Alastor, the "Midnight Thunder Boy". He peered through the darkness, scanning his surroundings. There wasn't a person in sight; there hadn't been for weeks.

In fact, the last person who had set foot here, who had dared trespass into _his_ domain, who had challenged _him_ to a fight, was none other than...

"Viewitiful Joe!" Alastor cried into the emptiness. _Why isn't there anyone else to fight? I need a challenge! _ He stepped out from the shadows and gazed at the celluloid sky. His wings flapped slowly, and his tail twitched in restlessness.

Any other time, when the demon would long to fight the most, he would be forced to remain alone. After all, there had not been a hero to fight before Captain Blue had arrived.

But, time after time, no one else arrived. Until that one day, out of nowhere, the Red Hero appeared to finally fulfill his destiny as a movie star. Even though Alastor had suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of such a rookie, he had to admit that Joe was a pretty formidable foe for a movie geek that had been sucked into a plot against his will. Then Joe had proceeded to beat all of the other enemies that lay ahead of him, running along without a scratch. Now that the story had been finished and Joe had succeeded in defeating every enemy, even his overpowered mentor, Alastor had nothing to look forward to. The thought of another hero entering the screen and starting another adventure in this part of Movie Land was completely unthinkable. Before this, Alastor had dreamed that anyone could appear at any time to challenge him. Whenver he thought about that fateful day, horrible thoughts began to run through his mind.

Alastor had almost _died_... It wasn't exactly the way it sounded, though; whenever a hero defeated a villian, they were gone forever, done with their purpose, unless a writer needed them again for a sequel. He was a fictional character, a mere celluloid. As tough as he was, the thought of being gone forever from his humble, if spooky, home still somewhat frightened him. _I shouldn't have taken him so lightly_, he thought to himself. _I mean, whenever I used to fight other Jadow members, they were weaker than me, and I would just do it for fun... but this guy, he was serious. And he let me know it... The only other person who ever fought that hard was Blue himself... _He sighed. The pain of defeat still hurt brutally.

If it wasn't for the mysterious vial that he had kept for so long, he wouldn't have made it. In fact, he wouldn't even still be around today, even if Joe hadn't needed to defeat him. It had been his little secret for a long time; he wouldn't dare let the other Jadow members see it, especially now that he had broken away from them. He had the director to thank for giving it to him in the first place. Eyeing the container of purple liquid, which he had attached to a leather chain around his neck hidden under his armor, a sudden thought occured to him.

"Wait... why did he give me this?" he asked himself. Thinking about it further, why _had_ the director given it to him? He reminisced of the time when he was given this strange gift...

_"Alastor... Alastor!" a voice called out._

_Alastor turned to face the young Captain Blue. Not only did he get to play the hero, he was put in charge of directing. "Whaddya want, old man?" he said bitterly._

_"I have something for you," said the young Blue, smiling. "I think you'll like it."_

_"What, is it food?" said the demon hungrily, sniffing the air._

_"No, it's much better. Now, close your eyes."_

"You think I'm five? Just give it to me!"

_"Now, now, Alastor, if you're going to act like that, I'll keep it for myself. Close your eyes," he repeated._

_"Hmph!" Alastor reluctantly closed his eyes, holding out his hands. In it, he felt a small object being placed in his gloved hand. _

_"Keep it forever. You'll need it."_

"What the heck is this?" he said in disgust, holding up the vial.

"It'll save you one of these days. I've beaten you many times," he said, and Alastor growled angrily, clutching his right arm. Blue continued. "I've been around for a while. Since I'm really from the normal world, I'll live until I die in real life. You, on the other hand..." Blue sighed.

_"What? What's gonna happen to me?"_

Blue smiled sadly. "All things die... even in the movies. Even if a hero doesn't kill you, something else will. You've only been able to come back so I could defeat you again all the other times. You're here for a reason."

_"But... what's this for then?" asked Alastor nervously._

_"Like I said, it'll save you. Just keep it. One day, the hero for your next movie will come along. You've done your job for now."_

_"My job? What are you talking about?" He had never been more confused about things. All he had ever known was that he needed to fight Blue, who patted his back. Alastor flinched at his touch._

_"Don't worry about it now. You'll know when the time comes... Drink some of that now. Not too much."_

_Alastor looked at him, puzzled, but drank some of the purple liquid. With that, Blue took out a pen and some paper, and he began to write quickly._

_"Old man? What are you doing now?" asked Alastor impatiently. _

_"Goodbye, Alastor. We shall me again someday."_

_Suddenly, the world around him began to turn white, and he felt like he was floating away in a deep sleep. When he finally awoke, he was in his new home, the temple ruins..._

"The hero for my next movie..." repeated Alastor. It had been a while since he had thought about Captain Blue, since both he and Joe had moved on to another film project. Joe had been his new hero, he just hadn't known that at the time. "Old man must've thought this all out ahead of time... How lame... But he was right... I didn't know it then, but he really was. That's how the Jadows knew, because he told them... he made it so that they would come up with a plot to break out. They didn't want to die..." _And I didn't want to either... That's why I've used it all this time... That's why I joined them..._

Things began to click into place. Blue had given him the vial so he would live... even after Joe had defeated him. So why had Blue wanted to keep him alive? To use him for another story?

"Like that's gonna happen," he said angrily. "I'm tired of being used by an old guy like him. I was made to fight, not to be some useless pawn!" When he thought about it, though, he had been created by Blue, a product of an inventive mind, and if it wasn't for him, he wouldn't be exsisting today... but that made him even angrier. "So what's my freakin' purpose?"

He didn't have much time to ponder over this, because suddenly, he felt sharp pain stinging his entire body. The world was starting to become hazy, and his super powers were starting to fade. It was all he could do to stay in his henshin form. He looked at a gloved, shaking hand; it was starting to fade away, becoming more and more transparent by the second.

"Ugh..." Alastor leaned on an ancient, crumbling pillar for support. "I can't disappear... I've... I've got to drink some..." He quickly uncorked the vial and drank it. The strong liquid left the now familiar bitter taste in his mouth. When he looked at it again, he gasped in horror: it was empty.

_Oh no... There's no more..._ _What am I going to do now? I'm... I'm going to die!_

The only answer he could think of at the moment was a very unwelcome one; it would destroy any pride he had left, but it was the only option. _What else can I do?_

"Joe..." he whispered into the darkness. "I'm going to find you. I don't want your help... but I need it." With that, his wings lifted him off the ground, and he soared away, searching for the entrance to the human world: the silver screen.

For hours, he searched in various places: the ocean, the city, and finally, the jungle. He became more and more frantic as he tried to find the screen. "Where is it?! I could've sworn it was around here..."

Without warning, he suddenly smacked into a wall. Cursing to himself, he looked at it, and through it, he could see a desserted movie theater. Empty popcorn buckets and forgotten candy wrappers lay strewn among the seats and the stairs in the large room. His eyes rested on a bluish dot near the front of the room. Apparently, it was not empty; sitting in the front was none other than Joe.

"Alastor?" Joe stood up, walking towards the giant screen.

As much as he hated to admit it, he was happy to see that his rival was there. "Joe! Oh, man, am I glad to see you!"

"Uh... I'm happy to see you, too, I guess," replied Joe, puzzled. "What are you doing here?"

_I might ask you the same question... Alone in a movie theater? What a dork._ Alastor didn't have time to think of a witty remark, because he began to feel weak again. "Joe, I need your help! You gotta get me out of here!"

"What? You mean, bring you into the world of humans?"

"Yes! Now don't just stand there like a moron, get me out of here!"

"I don't know," said Joe uneasily. "You're an evil villain, and-"

"JOE!"

"Okay, okay!" he said quickly. "Blue tried to teach me how to do it!" He raised up his arm, and his V-Watch began to glow. A beam of light emitted from the center, and he pointed it at the fading picture of Alastor on the screen. "Hope this works!"

Alastor could feel the overwhelming power of the watch surging through his body like electricity.

For a few seconds, the entire theater was engulfed in a bright white light, blinding Joe momentarily. When the light vanished, he ran over to Alastor, who was out of breath, leaning on the wall. He now had his "human" appearance.

"Hey! Are you alright?" Joe stood there, watching the demon breathe heavily. "Alastor?"

"J-Joe... Thank you..." Alastor replied weakly before collapsing onto the carpeted floor.


End file.
